


Conscription Ale

by DeCarabas



Series: Fugitives Together [61]
Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, background Anders/Hawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 15:10:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16835104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeCarabas/pseuds/DeCarabas
Summary: About that bottle found in Redcliffe, the heart of the mage rebellion, marked "Vintage: Warden Carver Hawke. Toast them all!"





	Conscription Ale

Carver had visited Redcliffe a few times as a kid, during the holiday markets. It had seemed enormous at the time, with the Orlesian traders from over the mountain pass, the towering walls of the arl’s castle in the distance. He’d played in the river with Bethany down by the massive water wheel.

It’s not Lothering, not quite like going home - but even Lothering isn’t Lothering anymore.

“I thought the Wardens were supposed to be neutral in all of this,” Grand-Enchanter Fiona says wryly, and Carver looks away from the window and its view of the water wheel as she moves her chess piece.

“We still are. And any new recruits will be neutral, too.” Neutral, and firmly under the Wardens’ protection, even if those recruits maybe don’t go through the Joining in any particular hurry. It’s an escape route he’s offering, not an alliance - even if the Grand-Enchanter does call him Warden _Hawke_ with an emphasis that’s starting to feel like he’s ten years younger and back in Kirkwall. But the name’s an asset on this particular recruiting mission, no denying that.

And if his brother has miraculously developed any sense of self-preservation over the past few years, then he and Anders will stay far away from here, where someone or other would be bound to recognize them and turn them in. Still, Carver keeps catching himself looking out the window, watching the new arrivals as they’re coming down the road looking for safety. 

The markets are still trading, the water wheel is still spinning, and dozens of kids in robes are walking around openly, right alongside everybody else, free to pester him about whether some scene from Varric’s book was really true.

 _I hope you’re seeing this, Bethany._

He’s not giving the Grand-Enchanter much of a challenge on the chess board, he has to admit. But he refills both their glasses from his bottle of conscription ale, and she declares it disgusting with all the appreciation it deserves. And this may not be the Deep Roads, and there may be plenty of finer vintages available on the shelves, but a Warden facing a long fight, ex-Warden or not, requires a proper toast.


End file.
